Czech Skill:Verbs: Past 1
Verbs: Past 1 is the '26'th skill (assuming read left to right) of the Czech language tree. This skill introduces the Czech past tense. Grammar Notes Czech only has one past tense. The simplest form is for the male third person singular. Here the past tense for most verbs is obtained by replacing the –t of the infinitive with an –l. The other third person past tense verbs are then formed by inflecting for number and gender of the subject. As an example: To form past tenses for 1st and 2nd person, we add the auxiliary verb být inflected for person and number: Notes: *The past-tense auxiliary is always placed at the second position of a sentence. It is an obligatory enclitic with the highest priority for this position, overriding, for example, the reflexive se. *The informal 2nd person auxiliary, the –s form, is simply an s which is attached to the end of a word in the first position, often a verb, pronoun, or question word. E.g. **''Byls tady včera?'' (Were you here yesterday?) **''Kdes to hledala?'' (Where were you looking for it?) addressing a female. *The formal 2nd person forms are inconsistent in the past tense. We use the plural auxiliary with one of the singular gendered l-forms depending on context. Examples: **''Františku, kde jste hledal Kateřinu?'' (František, where did you look for Kateřina?) address of a male. Note singular -l and not -li to refer to him alone. **''Žofie a Matěj hledali své dítě.'' (Žofie and Matěj were looking for their child.) M-a form because at least one member of the group is masculine animate. **Hledala jsem ho tady. (I looked for him/it here.) speaker. Lessons Lesson 1 *''Byl tvůj dědeček vysoký?'' = Was your grandfather tall? *''Jak dlouhé byly ty dva kabáty?'' = How long were those two coats? *''Které ženy tady včera byly?'' = Which women were here yesterday? *''Čí auto to bylo?'' = Whose car was that? *''Kteří chlapci tady včera byli?'' = Which boys were here yesterday? *''Byla to dobrá žena.'' = She was a good woman. *''Jak stará byla?'' = How old was she? *''Jaké barvy byl ten automobil?'' = What colour was that car? *''Její jméno bylo velmi dlouhé.'' = Her name was very long. *''Včera tady bylo jiné děvče.'' = Yesterday another girl was here. *''Naše děti ještě byly malé.'' = Our children were still small. *''František a Matěj byli bratři.'' = Frantisek and Matej were brothers. *''To byl František.'' = That was Frantisek. Lesson 2 *''Byls tady včera?'' = Were you there yesterday? *''Bylas tam?'' = Were you there? *''Byli jsme mladí!'' = We were young! *''Ty jsi tam včera byla.'' = You were there yesterday. *''Kde jste včera byli?'' = Where were you yesterday? *''Byls tehdy zvláštní.'' = You were strange then. *''Byla jsem jeho žena.'' = I was his wife. *''Byls velmi dobrý manžel.'' = You were a very good husband. *''Byli jsme velmi rádi.'' = We were very glad. *''Byl jste tady nový.'' = You were new here. *''Tehdy jsi byl mladý muž.'' = You were a young man then. *''Bylas tehdy ráda.'' = You were glad then. Lesson 3 *''Ty žluté svetry nebyly dost velké.'' = These yellow sweaters were not big enough. *''Nebyla jsem to já.'' = It was not me. *''Nebylas ještě vdaná.'' = Your were not yet married. *''Nebylo co jíst!'' = There was nothing to eat. *''Matěj a Kateřina nebyli manželé.'' = Matej and Katerina were not husband and wife. *''Nebyls nikdy příliš vysoký.'' = You were never too tall. *''Nebylas poslední.'' = You were not last. *''Ta prasata nebyla dost velká.'' = This pig was not big enough. *''Ty knihy tady včera nebyly.'' = This book was not here yesterday. *''To nebylo pivo.'' = It was not beer. *''Už jste tam nebyla.'' = You were not there anymore. *''Ještě nikde nebyl.'' = He has not been anywhere yet. *''Nebylas tady.'' = You were not here. Lesson 4 *''Babička měla syna a dvě dcery.'' = Granny had a son and two daughters. *''Kde nás hledali?'' = Where were they looking for us? *''Včera jsme měly žízeň.'' = Yesterday we were thirsty. *''Tvoje prase tady hledalo žrádlo.'' = Your pig was looking for food here. *''Koho jste hledal?'' = Who were you looking for? *''Tři domy jsem nepotřeboval.'' = I did not need three houses. *''Pil jste vodu?'' = Were you drinking water. *''Potřebovali jsme nové stroje.'' = We needed new machines. *''Vždy jsem chtěl medvěda.'' = I have always wanted a bear. *''Ne, tebe jsem nehledal.'' = No, I was not looking for you. *''Co jedlo to děvče?'' = What was that girl eating? *''Ne, včera už příliš nepili.'' = No, they were already not drinking too much yesterday. *''Ráno kávu neměli.'' = They did not have coffee in the morning. *''Díky, já jsem už jedla.'' = Thanks, I have already eaten. Lesson 5 *''Kde jste tehdy bydleli?'' = Where did you live then? *''Viděla jste to už?'' = Have you seen it already? *''Už mluvila.'' = She was already speaking. *''Ještě jsem to neviděla.'' = I have not seen it yet. *''Já jsem nemluvil příliš často'' = I don't speak too often. *''Žofie se asi nedívala.'' = Zofie was perhaps not looking. *''Vůbec jsem ji neznal.'' = I never knew her at all. *''Spali jsme jinde.'' = We slept somewhere else. *''Moje babička to město znala velmi dobře.'' = My grandmother knew that city very well. *''Černou ovci jsem už viděl.'' = I have already seen black sheep. *''Včera nás viděli.'' = She saw us yesterday. *''Včera jsem nespal.'' = I did not sleep yesterday. *''Já jsem tady nikdy nebydlel.'' = I have never lived here. *''Dívala ses?'' = Did you watch? *''Ty ses ale díval!'' = But you were looking! *''Kde jsi spala?'' = Where did you sleep? Lesson 6 *''Proč jste to dělal tak pomalu?'' = Why did you do it so slowly? *''Co jsi tam dělala?'' = What were you doing there? *''Snažili jsme se jíst.'' = We were trying to eat. *''Také jsme to dělaly.'' = I was also doing it. *''Ani se nesnažil!'' = But he was not trying! *''Snažil ses?'' = Were you trying? *''Celý den jsem četla knihy.'' = I was reading books the whole day. *''Matěj celou noc četl.'' = Matej was reading all night. *''Celou noc psala.'' = She was writing all night. *''Celý den jsme psali dopisy.'' = We were writing letters all day. *''Psal jsem ten dopis celý den.'' = I was writing that letter the whole day. *''Já jsem celý den četl tvoje dopisy.'' = I was reading your letter the whole day. Lesson 7 *''Šli jsme hodně rychle.'' = We were walking too fast. *''Moje sestry šly dělat polévku.'' = My sisters went to make soup. *''Ta prasata vážila hodně.'' = Those pigs weighed a lot. *''Kdo tam jel?'' = Who went there? *''Brali se velmi mladí.'' = They got married very young. *''Chtěl tam jít, ale nešel.'' He wanted to go there but didn't go. *''Kam šel?'' = Where did he go? *''Příliš rychle jsem nejel.'' = I was not going too fast. *''Jela tam jeho dcera.'' = His daughter went there. *''Kateřino, proč sis brala Františka?'' = Katerina, why did you marry Frantisek? *''Vážil sis svého dědečka?'' = Did you respect your grandmother? *''Matěje sis nevážila.'' = You did not respect Matej. *''Kdy se brali?'' = When did they get married? Lesson 8 *''Toto děvče už napsalo čtyři knihy!'' = This girl has already written four books! *''Kde jsi koupila tento sýr?'' = Where did you buy this cheese? *''Včera jsem přečetla celou knihu.'' = Yesterday I read the entire book. *''Koupil ten stroj Matěj nebo František?'' = Who bought the machine, Matej or Frantisek? *''Žofie rychle snědla tři hrušky.'' = Zofie quickly ate three pears. *''Vy jste ale nepřečetly celý dopis!'' = But you haven't read the whole letter! *''Kdo snědl moje jablko?'' = Who ate my apple? *''Příliš mnoho mléka jsme nekoupili.'' = We did not buy too much milk. *''Přečetl to slovo špatně.'' = He read the word wrong. *''Ještě jsem ten dopis nenapsala.'' = I haven't written the letter yet. *''Napsal jsi už ten dopis?'' = Have you written the letter yet? *''Ty jsi vypila všechno moje pivo!'' = You drank all my beer! *''Proč jste vypili všechno mléko?'' = Why did you drink all the milk? *''Kdo vypil všechno mléko?'' = Who drank all the milk? References